Squarevox

Last week I gave a Social Media 101 talk at a conference, and at the beginning of the session I asked attendees about their current use of social media. A number of people were blogging or using social networks, but when I got to Twitter, one person in a room of fifty raised his hand.

It’s easy for those of us who are immersed in this stuff to forget that most people have never touched something like Twitter. So I offer the “How to Twitter (and get something out of it)” guide for those who haven’t taken the plunge and perhaps aren’t even sure if they should bother.

Those of you who are already among the Twitterati may want to skip it. Or, better yet, consider adding your two cents for Twitter newcomers.

 

What is this Twitter, anyway?

 

Twitter is a way to exchange brief (up to 140 character) messages with a selected group of contacts via web, IM, SMS, or specialized client software. Think of it as microblogging - short messages that a group of your subscribers (or folowers) can read, and which you can read from people you’ve chosen to follow.

That describes how it works, but not the essence of it. It is, in some respects, kind of like a slow motion chat room - you see the latest “tweets” from your group of contacts. Conversations start and continue, sometimes over minutes and sometimes over hours. You can also have one-on-one conversations with or without the rest of the Twitter world seeing them.

What does this let you do? Well, you can tell people about your latest blog post, speaking engagement, white paper, or just a thought. You can ask questions - and you’ll often get interesting responses. (I like to say that Twitter is like shouting out into the great void of the universe… and sometimes the universe answers back!)

 

Why would I want to do this?

 

I was a big Twitter skeptic when it first appeared. First, there was my inherent skepticism about any big new thing. Second, it sounded like a massive source of constant interruption (and yes, it can be). Third, there were the silly claims that it would revolutionize marketing; for a while I was seeing endless blog posts about the fabulous marketing activities that could take place over Twitter, most of which were things that could be done more easily and effectively other ways. (I still think Twitter is not a marketing channel in any strict sense.)

But I tried it, because I felt like I needed to understand it, and - surprise! - have found a lot of value in it. I’ve found answers to technical questions. I’ve used it to get some quick feedback on ideas. Sometimes it’s just an entertaining way to see what people are thinking about. It’s not scientific, it’s not a survey vehicle, and it doesn’t replace marketing research, but it can get you thinking - or help you figure out that odd computer problem or find out about a great new place to have dinner.

Perhaps the best reason for you to try Twitter, though, is that it’s out there, it’s growing, and you need to understand it. So even if it never becomes part of your routine, you should have a look simply to know what it is about.

 

Getting started…

 

Having figured all this out through trial and error, here are some practical tips on getting going with Twitter and actually getting some value out of it.

 

1. Create a Twitter account.

 

Go to the Twitter site and create an account. It’s free and easy. Use a name or nickname. I don’t recommend using an organization name - this is a social medium in which people connect to people, not companies or organizations. You should certainly put your organizational affiliation(s) and links to your blog or site on your profile page, but put a human face on yourself - you are a person!

The profile is brief and easy to fill out. I think it’s a good idea to customize it with a photo or image, but I wouldn’t get hung up on page backgrounds or anything like that; you can play with that later if you want. (In fact, many Twitterers will hardly ever see your page, anyway.)

 

2. Follow people.

 

It’s people that give Twitter value, so you need to follow some. If you have friends who Twitter, add them. You can search for names and Twitter handles. Many of us have Twitter feeds on the sidebars of our blogs.

Here’s my advice on following: follow everyone you have any interest in. You need to reach a certain critical mass for Twitter to become interesting and useful, so when in doubt, follow. You can always remove people later.

I should note that I was initially quite resistant to that approach, and was very selective about following anybody at first. But once I started being more generous about clicking that Follow button, the whole thing became more useful. Go for it, you can always prune your list later.

The people you follow will get an email telling them that you’re out there listening. They may follow you back. I usually follow anyone who follows me (at least at first). I usually do not follow anything that appears to be an organization or company Twitter feed - sorry, not interested.

Oh, and feel free to follow me - my Twitter name is bythebayou.

 

3. See who your friends are talking to.

 

When you return to the Twitter page, you’ll see a timeline of all the tweets from your group of contacts. Some of them will be straightforward messages. Some will be directed at specific people. For example, if someone is responding to me or wants to direct something to me, they’ll start the message with “@bythebayou.”

Click those names, and you’ll see a timeline of just that person’s tweets. If they look at all interesting, click the follow button!

 

4. Talk back.

 

Don’t hesitate to join conversations. Answer a question. Ask one. You’ll get a sense of the tone of your group of contacts. Don’t be shy.

 

5. Keep up.

 

Now for something practical: how do you keep on top of this? You can simply return to the Twitter site, and see the updated timeline, but that is a bit of a pain in the neck. However, you have options.

My method of reading Twitter is through third-party client software: a program you put on your computer that gives you a constantly-refreshed stream of tweets, and makes it easy to send your own. Think of an IM client just for Twitter. I use Twhirl, available for Mac or PC. Twitterific for the Mac is also nice. I can’t really offer any advice on Windows clients (maybe someone else can in the comments), but Twitter offers a list of third party clients you can look at.

In your Twitter settings, you can select some other ways to keep up with your Twitter stream. One is to send tweets to your instant messaging account. I tried this and found it annoying; for me, IM is a place for private conversations. You can also send them to you phone via SMS, something I have not done and don’t intend to, because it sounds like a great way to be constantly annoyed by a chirping phone, and run up the mobile bill as well. When I’m not at my desk, I look at Twitter via Thincloud, a neat iPhone optimized web interface.

When I started I added the RSS feed of my Twitter timeline to my feed reader, but found this pretty useless; Twitter is real time, RSS is not, so I found I was looking at large numbers of old tweets. I’d missed what was going on. I don’t recommend this, even as RSS-centric as I am.

Try some things and find what works for you.

 

6. Some conventions you should know about.

 

I’ve already mentioned the @ convention for directing a tweet to a particular person. Remember that these replies are visible to the public - the @ is really just a way to point out that you’re replying.

You can also send direct messages via Twitter - these are private messages that only the recipient sees. Just send “d [username]” and your message text. (Many clients, including Twhirl, have handy buttons for doing this.

 

Tweet away!

 

As I said up top, if you’re involved in social media you should understand Twitter, and that alone is a good reason to dive in. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you find. If nothing else, you’ll be ready the day somebody says, “Hey, should we be doing something with Twitter?”

I haven’t touched on another important topic, Twitter search tools; this is long already, and it’s a meaty topic. I’ll get to that in some future post.

See you on Twitter, I hope!